Ziobro’s reported arrival in the United States has put new focus on a case already tied to Poland’s efforts to unwind the judicial changes enacted during the nationalist conservative Law and Justice government that ran the country between 2015 and 2023.
According to prosecutors and political officials, Ziobro—sought at home—had announced earlier this year that he was granted asylum in Hungary, where he was led by Viktor Orban’s government. Ziobro’s latest move, and Poland’s reaction to it, is now framed by authorities as raising questions about whether he left without the legal accountability that prosecutors have sought.
Ziobro told the Polish right-wing broadcaster Republika that he had arrived in the United States the previous day, AP reported, coinciding with the inauguration in Budapest of Péter Magyar, who defeated Orbán in an election last month. AP said Ziobro indicated he was using a document granted to him along with his right to asylum.
The national prosecutor’s office said Monday that it was investigating Ziobro’s whereabouts and looking into whether other individuals assisted him in “fleeing and evading criminal liability,” in a way that prosecutors said obstructs their investigation into the justice fund. The office said the probe follows concerns that his departure may have complicated the ability to pursue charges tied to his time in government.
The case centers on Ziobro’s alleged abuse of power, including prosecutors’ claims that he misused a fund for victims of violence. Prosecutors alleged the fund’s spending included purchases of Israeli Pegasus surveillance software; Tusk’s government and Law and Justice critics have also linked that software to spying on political opponents while Law and Justice was in power, while Ziobro has said he acted lawfully.
Poland’s current government came to power in late 2023 under Prime Minister Donald Tusk with ambitions to roll back the judicial changes made by the Law and Justice administration. AP said those efforts have been blocked by two successive presidents aligned with the nationalist right, leaving prosecutors and other officials to continue pursuing individual cases tied to the earlier era.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on X on Sunday evening that Poland invalidated Ziobro’s travel documents, including his diplomatic passport. Żurek said Poland will ask the United States and Hungary about the legal basis for Ziobro to leave Hungarian territory and enter the United States, as authorities seek to determine what paperwork and authority were involved.
Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told AP that Warsaw does not want the issue to become political. “Our relationship with the U.S. goes much deeper than what happens with Ziobro,” Wewiór said, adding that Poland wants the case to proceed so that the former official can eventually return to Poland to face justice.
Ziobro has been a central figure in Law and Justice’s government, which AP described as establishing political control over key judicial institutions by staffing higher courts with friendly judges and punishing critics through disciplinary action or assignments to faraway locations. Prosecutors had also sought the lifting of his parliamentary immunity in October so they could press charges, setting the stage for the legal conflict that has continued after his departure.